Zone diet

Opinions? Comments?

I see this lumped in with the low-carb phenomena and it doesn't really seem to be low carb to me - just healthy eating. However, some people on the web seem to think it's BS. Anyone try it first hand, especially those who lift weights regularly? I am about 230, 6'2", and would like to get to about 200. It shouldn't be that hard, but the past few years it has gotten much harder to drop pounds, and a friend recommended the Zone. I am 30, by the way.

Thanks for any suggestions! This is my first post by the way, so please be nice!

I see this lumped in with the low-carb phenomena and it doesn't really seem to be low carb to me - just healthy eating.

Depends on how you're defining "low-carb". It's not a ketogenic diet, but it certainly lower in carbohydrates than some other diets.

Two points:

A) Most of the dramatic effect from "low carb" diets stems from the ketogenic state they induce. This will be absent from the Zone diet.

B) Proteins and "good" fats are a LOT more expensive than a box of mac & cheese, or a brick of ramen.

It's always seemed to me to be a pretty good way to eat overall and a diet that could be followed indefinitely. It even contains some of the principles I've long used to guide my own food selection.

Before you proceed any further though, you should consider your goal. Why have you set a target bodyweight rather than a target body composition? If you just need to loose 30 pounds you can do that in a week and just forget about all this silly diet nonsense.

Are you trying to make weight for a fight? Do you plan to carry a scale around to impress women with your bodyweight? Do you care about your waistline?

Please, please, bear in mind that at 6'2" it's easily possible to be a 200 pound flabby sack of crap or a 230 pound wall of chiseled muscle. Forget about getting down to 200 and work on benching 300, or rolling for 3 hours, or dropping 3 sizes. Anything but bodyweight. Please.

Good point - revised post

I should have mentioned this - 200 pounds is MY ideal weight at the strength level I am at. I know this from my various levels of conditioning over the past 12 years or so. I am doing this not for a weight limit or anything, but just to get back into shape. I lift weights regularly and get decent cardio.

The first thing you should do is get a real "before" number to work with.

Go to your gym and have your body fat % figured out.

BF % is better than weight because it is a) more accurate and b) less accessable as you are not going to "break out the calipers" and measure yourself every night like people tend to do with a scale.

Scales are good for trying to make weight when you want to make a certain weight class, or to weigh UPS packages to send from your home.

I think any diet that gives you information about nutrition is a good read. The only complaint I've heard from people who are on the "zone diet" is that it is too hard to figure what is good and not good. I haven't read it, I don't know.

Personally I go by the harvard medical school guide to healty eating (which might be a bit old, but it's purpose was to challenge the old food pyramid). Mainly because it makes sense but it also has a pedigree. I think you should supplement your knowledge and diet by reading other books about nutrition and sports nutrition too.

Diet books (if the diet is good) are great sources for healthy recipies too.

Cardiologist recommended the Mediterranean diet for me. I track what I eat on http://www.fitday.com. If I have 1 protein shake a day, that diet falls in line with the 30/30/40 zone. Hell, I find if I just eat sensibly, I fall into the zone. SBG used to have an awesome take on the zone, with water being the base of the pyramid.